Comparative Study of Electoral Systems, 2001-2006 (ICPSR 3808)

This study is the full release of 2001-2006 data from Module 2 of the Comparative Study of Electoral Systems. The Comparative Study of Electoral Systems is an ongoing collaborative program of crossnational research among national election studies designed to advance the understanding of electoral behavior across polities. The project, which is being carried out in over 50 consolidated and emerging democracies, was coordinated by social scientists from around the world who cooperated to specify the research agenda, the study design, and the micro- and macro-level data that native teams of researchers collected within each polity. This collection currently comprises data from surveys conducted in the countries of Albania, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kyrgyzstan, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, and the United States. Module 2 focuses on electoral institutions and political behavior, particularly on the fundamental principles of democratic governance: representation and accountability. It aims to examine how well different electoral institutions function as mechanisms by which citizens' views are represented in the policymaking process, and by which citizens hold their elected representatives accountable. This is accomplished by explicitly linking individual attitudes and behaviors to the political context across a variety of settings. The module added a new set of items on citizen engagement and cognition across demographic polities, and expanded the analyses of the first module to examine how voters' choices are affected by the institutional context within which those choices are made. The survey results have been compiled and supplemented with district-level information that provides insight into the respondent's political context, and macro-level data that detail the respondent's political system as a whole. At each level of data collection, the measurements used have been standardized to promote comparison. Demographic variables include age, sex, race, ethnicity, education level, marital status, employment status, occupation, household union membership, language, socioeconomic status, political party affiliation, political orientation, religious preference, frequency of religious attendance, household income, number of children and other members of the household, and type of residential area (e.g., urban or rural).

This study is the full release of 2001-2006 data from Module 2 of the Comparative Study of Electoral Systems. The Comparative Study of Electoral Systems is an ongoing collaborative program of crossnational research among national election studies designed to advance the understanding of electoral behavior across polities. The project, which is being carried out in over 50 consolidated and emerging democracies, was coordinated by social scientists from around the world who cooperated to specify the research agenda, the study design, and the micro- and macro-level data that native teams of researchers collected within each polity. This collection currently comprises data from surveys conducted in the countries of Albania, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kyrgyzstan, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, and the United States. Module 2 focuses on electoral institutions and political behavior, particularly on the fundamental principles of democratic governance: representation and accountability. It aims to examine how well different electoral institutions function as mechanisms by which citizens' views are represented in the policymaking process, and by which citizens hold their elected representatives accountable. This is accomplished by explicitly linking individual attitudes and behaviors to the political context across a variety of settings. The module added a new set of items on citizen engagement and cognition across demographic polities, and expanded the analyses of the first module to examine how voters' choices are affected by the institutional context within which those choices are made. The survey results have been compiled and supplemented with district-level information that provides insight into the respondent's political context, and macro-level data that detail the respondent's political system as a whole. At each level of data collection, the measurements used have been standardized to promote comparison. Demographic variables include age, sex, race, ethnicity, education level, marital status, employment status, occupation, household union membership, language, socioeconomic status, political party affiliation, political orientation, religious preference, frequency of religious attendance, household income, number of children and other members of the household, and type of residential area (e.g., urban or rural).

(1) The data available for download are not weighted. The use of weights is at the discretion of the analyst based upon the considerations of her/his individual research question. It is recommended that users familiarize themselves with the weights, their components, and their methods of creation before applying them. (2) Sample type, weights, and mode of collection vary by country. Please refer to the codebook documentation for additional information on sampling, interviewing, weighting, oversamples, and collection modes for each country. (3) The 1996-2001 data file (ICPSR 2683) includes 2002 Portugal data. The 2002 Portugal data are different from the 2002 Portugal data in the COMPARATIVE STUDY OF ELECTORAL SYSTEMS, 2001-2006 (ICPSR 3808). (4) This crossnational dataset integrates data already fully processed by the study staffs of the individual countries, without further processing except for that which was essential for merging the data into the combined file. Where coded data for any deposited variables deviated too much from the coding scheme required by the CSES codebook, data for such variables were excluded. (5) Users should check the Comparative Study of Electoral Systems (CSES) Web site for additional information about this survey, errata notes, and other materials. This version corresponds to CSES Module 2 Full Release of June 27, 2007. (6) Several codes in variables B2025, B2026, B5022_1, B5022_2, B5022_3, B5022_4, and B5022_5 contain diacritical marks. (7) The CASEID variable was created for use with online analysis.

Methodology

Sample:
The data collection is a pooled crossnational sample of age-eligible citizens in 38 countries, yielding 64,256 cases. Please refer to the codebook documentation for more information on sample design in each country.

Weight:
The CSES Module 2 Full Release includes original weight data (variables B1010_1, B1010_2, and B1010_3), as provided by the collaborators, where available. The weight variables provided by the collaborators vary greatly because of the variance in the sample designs used in the election studies included in this project. Most election studies provided at least a single weight in one of three categories (sample, demographic, political), although some countries did not provide a weight at all. The remainder of the weight variables are derivatives constructed from the original weights by CSES. Analysts are advised to read the weight documentation carefully to ensure that their analyses are weighted appropriately.

Extent of Processing: ICPSR data undergo a confidentiality review and are altered when necessary to limit the risk of
disclosure. ICPSR also routinely creates ready-to-go data files along with setups in the major
statistical software formats as well as standard codebooks to accompany the data. In addition to
these procedures, ICPSR performed the following processing steps for this data collection:

Created online analysis version with question text.

Version(s)

Original ICPSR Release: 2004-02-24

Version History:

2008-07-01 The early release of this data collection has been updated to the full release which occurred June 27, 2007. The SPSS, SAS, and Stata setup files have been updated to reflect the full release of this data collection, and SPSS and Stata system files and a SAS transport file have been added. A PDF codebook with question text, study documentation, and online analysis capabilities will be released as well.